ALGARVE INTERCLUB LEAGUE RULES 2018

Participation of Clubs and Eligibility of Players

All participating clubs must be affiliated to the Federation Portuguese Golf (FPG) and approved as a handicapping authority. Member clubs, must in particular, comply with EGA regulation 3.4.7 in that the handicap committee should never deprive a competition of its status as a qualifying competition only to circumvent the regulations of the EGA handicap system and prevent scores from counting for handicaps. Such action is contrary to the spirit of the EGA handicap system. The handicap committee at all member clubs should give players the opportunity to return as many qualifying scores as possible.

It is the responsibility of each club to ensure that any players they play in their team are, on each match day, current active licensed amateur players of the FPG, have a FPG EGA registered current handicap (i.e. it is not-lapsed, not-suspended or not lost) as shown on the FPG database and are aged 18 and over.

Any player may only represent their "Home" club and only one club in any one year. Individual club Captains will be responsible for checking that a player has not previously played for another club.

Updating EGA Exact handicap with CONGU record sheets.

Each time an affiliated member returns to Portugal after having played golf under another national golf association, that member is required to bring their Handicap Playing Record showing the Qualifying Scores and/or any adjustments recorded in that jurisdiction. This record must be submitted to the Handicap Committee of the players Home Club in Portugal. Any handicap movement (up or down) shown on this CONGU playing record during the period away from Portugal must be applied as a single entry on the players EGA handicap record before they play in any further Interclub matches. A club that fields a returning player whose handicap has not been adjusted in accordance with this requirement will lose the game in which the player played where the adjustment would have resulted in a lower playing handicap.

The MC have the authority to discuss with individual member clubs the handicap of any player they believe to be too high. If after discussion the MC are not satisfied with the explanation they may impose a maximum handicap on the player in question for subsequent use in InterClub league matches.

A club that fields a player, who is ineligible, will lose the game in which the player played and the team fielding the ineligible player forfeits all points in the relevant match. The opposing club will receive the normal points that would have been awarded to them.

Management Committee

A three person Management Committee(MC) will be responsible for the administration and management of the InterClub league. Members of the committee will not be representatives of any particular club but will be required to serve the interests of all clubs.

Working within the remit, as decided by the member clubs by ballot or in general meeting, the committee will be responsible for organizing Finals Day, the Annual General Meeting, appointment of an Administrator, if thought necessary and consideration of any proposals/suggestions made by member clubs.

In the event of any dispute arising between member clubs, the MC will seek to resolve the issues and make a final decision on the matters in dispute. Should one of the members of the MC be from a club involved in the dispute, a club from another division will be called upon to provide a representative to help make the decision.

Nominations for the MC will be sought from all member clubs in November of each year and these should be submitted to the MC one month in advance of the AGM. Each year one of the existing members of the MC will stand down, by rotation, and may seek re-election. If there are more nominations than vacancies then an election will be carried out at the AGM. Volunteers may be sought to fill any vacancies which may arise on the MC at anytime. At no time will more than one member of any club serve on the MC unless approved in general meeting.

Each year the Captain of the Championship winning club will be co-opted to the MC to assist with the preparations for the following years Finals Day.

Competition Rules

The Interclub will be played in three divisions which will be known as Division 1, 2 & 3 with each club playing home and away against all clubs in their division. Home matches must be played on one of the officially designated home courses of the home club. The Home club is required to nominate the course to be played and give at least two weeks notice, in advance of the match date, thus allowing practice rounds if required.

Match dates, once agreed, can only be postponed once. Both captains have to agree to the postponement of the match. This being the case, a new date must be set within 14 days and played by no later than 15th October. The MC should be advised of all postponement requests, with the reason for the postponement along with the revised date for the match. The onus on being flexible, in agreeing alternative match dates, rests primarily with the club seeking the postponement. In the event that either team finds they cannot fulfil the fixture, they must inform the MC, who will then, in light of the relevant facts, adjudicate and award points accordingly.

Competition format: Each match will consist of a team of 10 players playing fourball better ball match play.

Handicaps. Maximum exact EGA handicap - Men 24, Ladies 24 . Handicap allowance : The lowest handicapped player will play from scratch with the other players receiving 90% of the difference in playing handicap.

The tees used must be the SLOPE rated tees and be set up in accordance with Rule 2.7 of the FPG update of November 2016. The choice of tees for Men will be at the discretion of the the home club. The Ladies WILL play from the Home Clubs Ladies "Competition Tees" (Which in most case will be the "Red" Tees However, once a club has chosen tees in its first home match it MUST continue to use those tees for the remainder of matches for that year. If a club has more than one HOME course, then they must declare the tees to be used on any other courses at the same time. All home clubs must notify the course they will play on to their opponents two weeks prior to the match date.

In the event that any club has differing indices for men & women the men's indices will prevail throughout the match.

For all matches in the Algarve Interclub League a player may obtain distance information by use of a distance-measuring device. To gauge or measure other conditions that might affect his play (e.g. elevation changes, wind speed, etc.), the player is in breach of Rule 14.3.

For overall league positions ties will be resolved in the following manner:

Points in the matches between the two teams who are levelTotal away pointsToss of a coin

At the end of every league season the clubs finishing in the top three places in Division 2 & 3 will be promoted and replaced in the lower division by the three clubs finishing in the bottom three places in Division 1 & 2 respectively. New clubs admitted will always enter Division 3.

Other Organisation Rules

Member clubs will be required to provide players with courtesy of the course for matches.

Clubs will be required to provide after match refreshments for a maximum cost of €25 per player including gratuities. Each team captain is required to collect all the money for their team and ensure that it is paid in full on the day of the match. All players are expected to attend after match meals, in line with the spirit of fair and friendly competition, which is an essential element of the InterClub.

The visiting club must provide the host club with a team sheet at least 3 days before the match. Team sheets should detail player's names, gender and their EXACT EGA handicap.

An annual membership fee, as decided at each AGM is payable by each club, preferably immediately following the AGM and at least prior to their first match. The fees will be used to cover the cost of administration, provision and engraving of divisional trophies, prizes for Finals day and any other incidental expenses. A financial statement will be provided by the MC at each AGM.

Matches should be arranged by the last day in February and all match dates entered on the website and an agreed Fixture List submitted to the Administrator by that date. All matches must be completed by 15th October to facilitate the playing of Finals Day asap thereafter.

After each match it is the responsibility of the home Captain to enter the result into the website within two days of the match being completed.

The Championship trophy will be presented to the winner of Division 1 along with individual Divisional Trophies on Finals Day. Their success will also be recorded on the Past Champions section of the InterClub website.

Finals Day

A Betterball Stableford Competition , meal and prize presentation ceremony will be organised by the MC and will be hosted by the previous years Division 1 champions or MC as appropriate. Six players will be invited to participate from each Club with all pair's better ball scores to count. Handicap allowances will be 90% of each player's playing handicap, from tees as decided by the MC. The cost will be €40 Green Fee and €25 catering fee per person.

A prize fund as decided by the MC will be used to provide trophies to the three divisional winners. Nominal prizes will also be provided for the two clubs finishing 1st and 2nd on the day.

Knock Out Cup

The Knock out Cup, introduced in 2016, will consist of as many clubs who wish to enter and be played on a straight KO basis. The arrangements for matches will be the same as for the Interleague matches, 10 players per team and meals after the match.

The Preliminary & First round matches will be drawn at the AGM and will all have to be completed by the end of March each year. Thereafter draws will be done by the MC and advised to clubs via the website. Subsequent rounds will require to be played within a six week period of the draw.

The draw and progress will be entered into the News pages of the InterClub website.

In the event of a tied match the away team will progress to the following round.

The final will be played at a neutral venue as decided by the MC with green fees for both teams paid from Interclub funds.

All clubs are requested to keep the MC administrator advised of dates for match days and all subsequent results.

Organisation

It is the duty of all participating clubs to keep the MC/Administrator informed of any changes to personnel, telephone or fax numbers, email addresses or any other details that may affect efficient communication between all Interclub members.

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This web site is for the golfers in the Algarve who wish to keep up to date with the latest status in the InterClub League. The authorised member of each Golf Club can directly enter the results of the League competitions using this system.